I received this book for free from Publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
Just Friends by Tiffany Pitcock Published by Macmillan on August 1st 2017
Genres: Young Adult Fiction, Romance, Contemporary, Social Themes, Friendship
Pages: 352
Format: eARC, ARC
Source: Publisher
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A new spin on the classic smart-girl-and-bad-boy setup, this witty contemporary romance shows how easily a friendship – even one built on an elaborate lie – can become so much more.
Jenny meets Chance for the very first time when she is assigned as his partner in their Junior Oral Communications class. But after they rescue a doomed assignment with one clever lie, the whole school is suddenly convinced that Little-Miss-Really-Likes-Having-A’s and the most scandalous heartbreaker in school have been best friends forever. It’s amazing how quickly a lie can grow—especially when you really, really want it to be the truth.
With Jenny, Chance can live the normal life he’s always kind of wanted. And with Chance, Jenny can have the exciting teen experiences that TV shows and movies have always promised. Through it all, they hold on to the fact that they are “just friends.†But that might be the biggest lie of all.
Debut author Tiffany Pitcock delivers a spot-on depiction of first love and the high school rumor mill in Just Friends, chosen by readers like you for Macmillan's young adult imprint Swoon Reads.
Praise for Just Friends from the Swoon Reads community:
"The story is great. It caught my attention and kept it. In fact, I stayed up all night to finish it!" —KFox, reader on SwoonReads.com
"I really loved this book. The characters were lovable and I found myself attached to them almost instantly. The dialogue was snappy, witty, and most importantly, believable." —C. Thomas, reader on SwoonReads.com
"What truly in my opinion sets this apart from other best friends turn to lovers plots is that their entire relationship started with a lie and made it work through high school. Definitely something I will read, and read again." —Xanthia Strohl, reader on SwoonReads.com
"OMG, I read this book from start to finish non stop! I fell absolutely in love with Chance and Jenny. This book had me feeling every single emotion and I just could not get it enough of it! I wanted more, and more, AND MORE!!" —Twila James, reader on SwoonReads.com
Just Friends by Tiffany Pitcock looked pretty promising. I mean, I am not above a fun, contemporary YA romance book. In fact, those are kind of my favorite when I am in moments of stress and feeling overwhelmed. Just Friends contains the tropes that I am here for. However, it just didn’t click with me in the way that say, Anna And The French Kiss or My Life Next Door did.
Tiffany Pitcock’s Just Friends follows high school juniors Chance and Jenny. The two are paired up in a communications class for this exercise where they talk about what they did during the summer. The two spin a story of being best friends since childhood. The lie kind of spins out of control and everyone at school begins believing that they grew up best friends. This leads to the two developing a strong friendship between them which both long for to become more but do not exactly communicate that to each other.
Jenny is on her way to becoming valedictorian. She is obsessed with getting A’s. However, she’s also got a flair for the adventurous and tries to always take the road less traveled which drives her actions throughout the book. She lives with her mother, younger brother Jack, and younger sister Jessa. She has a friend named Kelsey. However, Jenny has this tendency to keep people at arm’s length and is quite reserved. Still, Chance might just be the key to unlocking her reserved nature.
Chance kind of has a reputation. I mean, he is known for making his rounds through the ladies in school. He’s never with the same girl twice. Despite sort of a freewheeling romantic life, he has a pretty heavy home life. His parents are always fighting and sometimes they put him in the middle. His other brother Levi just left for college and never came back. So, hanging out with Jenny gives him a sense of normalcy and makes him feel less lonely. Plus the two have this very easy banter around each other. I will say Just Friends does a good job with the chemistry.
Much like Jenny keeps people at arms length throughout the book, I felt as a reader as though I was kept at arm’s length distance from enjoying Just Friends. I would say that I just felt there was something lacking. We see over and over again that Chance and Jenny have these stereotypes and sure both eventually learn. Still, I didn’t feel like they were very deep characters. It just didn’t feel as polished or as vivid as other contemporary YA romance books I have read. However, I did read this mostly fast. It just never kept me engaged or gave me that feeling that I HAD to drop everything else and read it.
Other reviews of Just Friends by Tiffany Pitcock:
- Eater Of Books – “I hated the romance“
- Arctic Books – “a book of which to be potentially wary“
- Buried In A Bookshelf – “this is a great read and I’ll definitely read it again“
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